Mayor Bloomberg went into full-tilt pushback mode today.
In rapid succession on his radio show he vowed no retreat on the NYPD’s controversial “stop and frisk” tactics, described a City Council proposal to regulate banks “a new low for idiocy” and questioned Gov. Cuomo’s decision to end fingerprinting for food stamp recipients.
Bloomberg defended “stop and frisk” with only a passing reference to the changes Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced to the program on Thursday in the face of criticism that it unfairly targets blacks and Latinos.
“This is a program that is effective,” the mayor said.
“People say there is a divide between the public and the police. There may be a divide between some of the public and the police, but the divide that is no longer there is that you used to not be able to walk the streets of this city and today you walk every neighborhood during the day and most neighborhoods at night.”
He added, “We’re going to keep doing this…We’re not going to walk away from tactics that work and we’re not going to walk away from bringing crime down.”
Bloomberg even went so far as to predict that the city would set a record low in murders this year as well as a record for “getting guns off the street and out of the hands of kids.”
Officials tend to stay away from those kinds of predictions this early in the year, since things can change quickly with more than seven months to go before the books are closed.
The mayor lambasted the Council’s plan to restrict the city’s deposits in banks whose lending practices don’t meet certain standards.
“The city going into the regulatory business of banking sets probably a new low for idiocy,” he declared.
“We’re got the federal government and the state government and they’re having trouble doing it, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Asked by WOR radio host John Gambling if he was going to veto the measure, Bloomberg replied:
“Does the word for sure mean anything?”
The mayor was a lot more circumspect when it came to explaining his differences with Gov. Cuomo over fingerprinting food stamp recipients, which the city will be forced to stop under a measure being introduced by the governor.
“It’s fair to say we just disagree on it,” said Bloomberg.
Cuomo argued the practice attaches a “stigma” to applicants.
Bloomberg countered that all government employees are fingerprinted, as are those applying for jobs at most major companies, including Bloomberg LP.
“People say it’s demeaning,” said the mayor. “I can just tell you if you work for New York City we finger image you.”